Get a New Phone Over the Holidays?  Remember Duo!

If you were lucky enough to receive a new phone recently, remember that you will need to reinstall and reactivate Duo in order to validate your identity.

Once you have the app downloaded, call the helpdesk to trigger the setup process.

Fake Virus Pop-ups

Should you get a notification or pop-up that says your machine is compromised or has a virus or any other security notification, please take a picture or screen shot of the notification and call the Help Desk or your building's Technical Support Specialist. 

DO NOT RESTART YOUR COMPUTER! Doing so might get rid of the pop-up, but in the event of an actual virus or cybersecurity incident this may corrupt or delete sensitive data about the problem that would be beneficial to have to remediate the problem. 

Winter Training Series begins January 

Participate in the upcoming Winter Teacher Training Series with several sessions focused on harnessing the power of technology in education. This series is tailored for our staff to enhance their teaching skills and leverage innovative tools for a 21st century learning experience in the classroom. Don't miss out on this opportunity to stay ahead in the ever-evolving landscape of education.

Technology sessions will include:

• Robots for Primary and Intermediate Students

• Computational Thinking in the Classroom

• Newline Engage Digital Whiteboard

• Teaching & Learning with Seesaw

• Technology and the Developing Brain

• Tech Security: Keeping Yourself and Our Students Safe

• UDL: Removing Learning Barriers by Providing Choices and Options

Newline Boards - Saving Whiteboards

In this video, the ability to save Whiteboards for later use is demonstrated. This can be a helpful practice for teachers using Newline Boards in the following contexts:

• Needing to pause a lesson immediately

• Wanting to share student work done on the Newline board to a later group

• Ensuring the lesson you made on a Newline board is available later.

See more tips and tricks for Newline Boards on our website!

Google Classroom Tip - Grading Periods

Secondary teachers - we think you will like this one! You can now set grading periods, which will allow you to filter views in the gradebook view. This could be really helpful for having the option to view student work from just a specific set of time. This can also be helpful for noticing student trends over time. Time to celebrate that progress! To set this up for your class, visit the class settings and navigate to the grading section. For additional support, check out Google's support article on creating and editing grading periods. 

Media Literacy in the Age of AI

Last year, some music fans were confused by a viral image of pop star Carly Rae Jepsen seemingly playing a solo show in a grungy basement venue.  The image was a fake, generated by the AI tool Midjourney, but was convincing enough to fool many people online.  Since then, AI tools have only become more sophisticated in how realistic their content can appear.  So, what does this mean for students?  How can they find reliable information in a deepening sea of fakes?

One method that is already taught in our schools is the SIFT method that helps students determine whether information is reliable - whether generated by humans or machines.

STOP - Headlines are often meant to get clicks, and will do so by causing the reader to have a strong emotional response.  What do you know about the source? Do you know its reputation?

INVESTIGATE the Source - Take a moment to look up the author and source publishing the information.  What can you find about the author/website creators? ​Go beyond the 'About Us' section on the organization's website and see what other, trusted sources say about the source.​ You can use Google or Wikipedia to investigate the source.

FIND Better Coverage - Again, use lateral reading to see if you can find other sources corroborating the same information or disputing it.​  Many times, fact checkers have already looked into the claims, and have information available on FactCheck.org​ or Snopes.com, for example.​

TRACE Claims and Media - When claims are made about a topic, or photo/video evidence provided, always try to find the original source of the text or media, as often context can be missing.  This can often help to identify material that was AI generated,

Outlook Update - Pronouns in your Profile

The Department of Technology values diversity and inclusivity. Staying attuned to the needs of our staff is of the utmost importance. Recognizing this, the Outlook email service recently provided an update designed to foster a more inclusive communication experience. With this latest improvement, users can now easily identify and display their pronouns within their email profiles thus providing a step toward creating a more inclusive online environment. 

SMS + Phishing = Smishing

A common tactic for threat actors to gain information is to spoof or send a text message impersonating someone you know. If you receive a spam or smishing text message please follow these steps to report it.

You can also block and report spam directly on your phone: Android | iPhone

New Student Progress Report Available

The Student Progress Report by Student (Teacher Access) - WSIPC allows teachers to print all assignments within a date range or just missing assignments. This report also gives the assignment grade percentage breakdown by category. Find this under Gradebook>Reports.

Skyward Help

The Data Services Website provides help and information for Skyward users with specific pages for employees, teachers, Qmlativ training, and submitting help tickets.